Thanks to the help of teh internetz and the PPK I finally gave Japanese udon noodle soup a spin. Dashi is from kombu, shiitake, mirin and tamari and a drizzle of sesame oil. Noodles, tofu, spinach, spring onion, enoki and shiitake mushrooms. The dashi was great, but I want to make it bolder next time. Perhaps miso or more tamari.

_________________Half the lies I tell are not true."luckily us vegans dont go into cardiac arrest...but we do go into food comas" - Adam Crisis

Looks good! Happy to hear that you have had success with the dashi and the shiitakes (I had no Idea that presliced existed, I always assumed that you used the whole ones to begin with).

Suggestion for the future: frying the tofu beforehand and adding it hot is also really good! And if you want to have more oomph to the dashi, try adding some fat; fat is also a flavour enhancer. It is not traditional but would probably fit the cold months better.

Thanks, Lily! Yeah I thought about frying the tofu, too but I was I was short on time and the dishes were piling up. I did, however, try marinating and roasting some tofu cubes last night and threw it in with my leftovers and it was much better. What kind of fat would you recommend? I did a drizzle of sesame oil on top of my bowl. Maybe peanut oil in the dashi?

_________________Half the lies I tell are not true."luckily us vegans dont go into cardiac arrest...but we do go into food comas" - Adam Crisis

Thanks, Lily! Yeah I thought about frying the tofu, too but I was I was short on time and the dishes were piling up. I did, however, try marinating and roasting some tofu cubes last night and threw it in with my leftovers and it was much better. What kind of fat would you recommend? I did a drizzle of sesame oil on top of my bowl. Maybe peanut oil in the dashi?

Peanut oil sounds good, or any other neutral tasting oil. And the drizzle of sesame oil is a really tasty addition, I think.

What I did today was to cut up the soaked shiitakes, heat up a mix of canola and sesame oil, roast some sesame seeds and then add the shiitakes, some dashi, soy sauce and mirin to the pan. Then cook without a lid until all liquid has evaporated. The mushrooms really plumped up some more and were all infused with those flavours and that made an awesome topping for udon. And it was a good way to add some fat to the bowl that did not just swim on top of everything.